Saturday, February 28, 2009

Process Library

Process Library: "In the recesses of your computer, 20-30 invisible processes run silently in the background. Some hog system resources, turning your PC into a sluggish computer. Worse yet, other useless processes harbour spyware and Trojans - violating your privacy and giving hackers free reign on your computer. Uniblue ProcessLibrary is an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to know the exact purpose of every single process."

Building a computer for under $200 (Part 1 and 2) | DRAKEFIRE

Building a computer for under $200 (Part 1) | DRAKEFIRE
Part II of the build is here: http://www.drakefire.com/?p=212

Pobox - For Individuals - Email Forwarding, Personal Domains, Spam Protection

Pobox - For Individuals - Email Forwarding, Personal Domains, Spam Protection

Thursday, February 26, 2009

DTOWN

DTOWNTricks, news and hardware for Nikons.

5 Situations When Manual Focus is Better than Auto Focus

5 Situations When Manual Focus is Better than Auto Focus

Multiple Monitors REDUX

FROM VISTA NEWS

Multiple Monitors Revisited

Looking back through the archives of VistaNews and our sister publication, WXPnews, I was surprised to see that the last time I did a feature on multiple monitor use was in 2007. Wow, time really does fly when you're having fun! That article, titled Screen Real Estate is the Best Investment addressed the question of which works best: one gigantic monitor or several smaller ones:
http://www.vistanews.com/1JN2DV/090226-Screen-Real-Estate

Well, even though the cost of big monitors has come down, there are still advantages (both monetary and ergonomic) to using multiples. And a lot has happened on the multi-monitor front in the last few years. I first started using dual monitors on Windows 2000, but getting them to work could be a major hassle. Most video cards had only a single output, so you had to install additional cards. And you needed video cards that were built to serve as secondary monitors - not all of them were back then. Still, once you got it up and running, it was great. Prior to that, it was possible to have dual monitors with NT, but you had to buy an expensive dual head video card. My secondary cards on my Windows 2000 workstation were cheap Diamond Stealths.

Then XP came out, and multiple monitors got much easier to set up. Unlike Windows 2000, XP would recognize your multiple monitors when you installed it, and extending the desktop across two or even more monitors was no problem at all. For a while there, I was running four monitors off three video cards on my XP system. Next, Vista came along - and along with it, an unpleasant surprise. I'd been using an odd combination of cards with XP: an NVidia with two outputs, an ATI and a Matrox. When I installed Vista on the same machine, only two of my monitors would work: the ones connected to the NVidia card. A little research turned up the fact that with Vista, all of your video cards had to use the same driver. That meant you couldn't mix and match cards from different vendors - although you could in some cases use different models from the same vendor. So I went out and bought another NVidia card for that machine. When I got a new Dell XPS, I got two identical ATI cards.

Now the word is out that Windows 7 will have support for multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors. I haven't tested that yet (I'm running 7 on the XPS with three monitors attached to the two ATI cards, on a Media Center PC that's hooked up to the 65 inch Sharp Aquos TV, and on a Sony laptop) but I hope to try it out with different brands of cards in the next few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.

Installing all these extra cards is well and good, but what if you can't do that? Maybe all of the expansion slots on your computer are full. Maybe you use a "desktop replacement" laptop as your primary/only computer. Maybe you just don't feel comfortable opening up the case and adding a card. Does that mean you can't enjoy the benefits of multiple monitors?

Not necessarily. If your expansion slots are full, examine the video card you do have. Most modern video cards have two outputs. Sometimes there will be one VGA D-sub connector and one DVI, or more often now, two DVIs. Newer high-end cards may have an HDMI connector in addition to, or instead of, one of these. Generally you can connect two monitors to the two ports and have multiple monitor functionality.

With most laptops, you can attach a monitor to the video port and have dual monitors of a sort, with the laptops built-in display serving as one of them. That may not be very satisfying if your laptop is a subcompact with a tiny display, though. Another problem is that many laptops currently in use still have only VGA outputs, so if you have a modern monitor that has only a digital input, you may need an adapter and you won't get the full display quality of which the monitor is capable. Some of the newer laptops include HDMI outputs, though. You can connect HDMI to a monitor with a DVI input, again by means of an adapter.

If your computer's existing video card has only one port, or if you're using a laptop and want two or more full sized monitors, there's still a solution - provided you're willing to spend a few bucks. Matrox, which made those dual head monitors for NT way back when, now makes an external device that you can use to connect two or three monitors to your computer. Called the DualHead2Go and the TripleHead2Go, these little black boxes don't require that you open the case and can be had for both analog and digital monitors. They're a bit pricey, though - the dual head analog model sells for around $170 and the digital model for close to $250.
http://www.vistanews.com/1JN2DV/090226-CDW-Products

However you accomplish it, being able to spread out across two or three monitors is great. It's like the difference between working on a 3x8 foot desk or table and working on a TV tray.

There was much discussion, ahead of the release of the Windows 7 PDC pre-beta, concerning multi-monitor support for the Windows taskbar. Apparently Microsoft considered making the taskbar capable of spanning multiple monitors, or putting separate taskbars on each monitor. The current public beta, however, doesn't seem to contain that feature.
http://www.vistanews.com/1JN2DV/090226-Multi-Monitor-Support

A great little add-on program that I used in XP and Vista, called UltraMon, provided the capability to have taskbars on each monitor, as well as the ability to set a different wallpaper for each monitor. Unfortunately, it's not yet supported on Windows 7. Some folks have gotten it working - sort of - but you lose some functionality. You can read about the trials and tribulations of those who've tried it here:
http://www.vistanews.com/1JN2DV/090226-Forum

One of the most exciting multiple monitor developments in the last few years was the ability to span multiple monitors with a Remote Desktop connection. I use Remote Desktop a lot, to connect to my primary workstation downstairs from my upstairs office or from my bedroom computer. Previously, you were limited to having the remote desktop on just one screen. Now, I can get a much more realistic working atmosphere by displaying my three-monitor desktop downstairs across all three monitors on the upstairs machine. The default is still to display the remote desktop on a single monitor, however. To span monitors (called continuous resolution mode), you need to type Mstsc /span at the command prompt. Also note that all of the monitors need to be running at the same resolution. To do this from an XP machine to a Vista or Windows 7 computer, you need to install the updated RDC client (6.0) on the XP computer:
http://www.vistanews.com/1JN2DV/090226-Remote-Desktop

You can read more about Microsoft's official stance on multi-monitor support in Vista here:
http://www.vistanews.com/1JN2DV/090226-MultiMonitor

And here is every multiple monitor lover's dream setup: an array consisting of eight 24 inch widescreen displays. At $8000, it's not cheap - but if you can make do with eight 17 inch monitors instead, the price comes down to an almost manageable $2799.
http://www.vistanews.com/1JN2DV/090226-Cinemassive

Or how about one of those transparent touchscreen monitors like they use in the crime lab on CSI: Miami? Apparently that's a SMART Board interactive display projected onto a clear sheet of glass or plastic. SMART Boards have been used in schools since the early 90s, but you know they're expensive when they won't even tell you the price on their web site.
http://www.vistanews.com/1JN2DV/090226-Interactive-Whiteboards

Something that sounds a lot like the CSI dream monitor is Microsoft's SecondLight technology, which was presented this last week at TechFest in Redmond. It's a variation on the Surface computer but instead of embedding the images into a tabletop, it projects them onto a piece of plastic suspended in mid-air. You can see a demo video of that here:
http://www.vistanews.com/1JN2DV/090226-Touch-screen

Are you using multiple monitors yet? Does it make you more productive? How many monitors (and what size) would be in your ideal setup? What's on your wish list for multiple monitor support in the next operating system: multiple taskbars? Separate wallpaper configurations? Tell us your experiences and opinions at feedback@vistanews.com

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Computer Forum - olympic peninsula forums - craigslist

Computer Forum - olympic peninsula forums - craigslistSearchable.

Tony Blair Has NOT Been Killed Today - This is a Hoax & Virus Threat « Tony Blair

Tony Blair Has NOT Been Killed Today - This is a Hoax & Virus Threat « Tony Blair
This is a prime example of a counterfeit web site and false statement that may lead the unsuspecting web browser to a site and subsequently offering a TROJAN infected executable to the curious viewer. Always, always check out any email that sends you any kind of suspect message. The message was sent to my personal email account and it was marked as being from the BBC, so I looked at it, of course, since I get other email from the BBC. Users should be on the lookout for things like this. -tp.

ONLINE MEDIA GOD: 400+ Tools for Photographers, Videobloggers, Podcasters & Musicians

ONLINE MEDIA GOD: 400+ Tools for Photographers, Videobloggers, Podcasters & Musicians

Monday, February 23, 2009

FrontPage - eXe : eLearning XHTML editor

FrontPage - eXe : eLearning XHTML editorOpen source authoring for teachers and trainers.

Handy batch file for file extensions

Create this batch file. Save it where you can find it again. It will create a file of all your file extensions. Create the file with a text editor and save it as filextensions.bat
Run it, then go to the SAME directory where you have the batch file to read your file extension txt file ( filext_submission_output.txt ).


Echo OFF
CLS
assoc > filext_submission_output.txt
Echo This batch file will make a list of all
Echo the file extensions found on your computer.
Echo.
Echo ---------- >> filext_submission_output.txt
ftype >> filext_submission_output.txt
Echo The output file has been created and
Echo named filext_submission_output.txt and it should
Echo be in the same place where you saved this batch
Echo file.
Echo.
Echo Thank you.
Echo.
Echo Tom Pitre - Feb 2009
Pause
Exit

FILExt - The File Extension Source

FILExt - The File Extension SourceGreat site dealing with file extensions. For instance, look it up, add a button to your Google toolbar, etc. Check it out. -tp

6,473 Texts a Month, But at What Cost? - washingtonpost.com

6,473 Texts a Month, But at What Cost? - washingtonpost.com

Friday, February 20, 2009

Resize Vista's Alt-Tab Thumbnail Previews - washingtonpost.com

Resize Vista's Alt-Tab Thumbnail Previews - washingtonpost.com

Clearing The Page File On Shutdown In Windows XP!

Clearing The Page File On Shutdown In Windows XP!
The paging file is used as temporary storage, kind of like RAM only a lot slower. The problem is that information hangs around in the paging file a lot longer than it does in RAM. This can be a security issue if a plain-text password, or any other sensitive information, was stored in the paging file. You can’t clear the paging file while Windows is running but you can clear it on shutdown.

Movie411 ~ Downloads movie information and covers quickly and easily!

Movie411 ~ Downloads movie information and covers quickly and easily!

Turn off indexing and speed up Windows XP

Turn off indexing and speed up Windows XP

99 ways to make your computer blazingly fast

99 ways to make your computer blazingly fast

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Some mobile chargers to become widely compatible - USATODAY.com

Some mobile chargers to become widely compatible - USATODAY.comNow...start getting compatible power supplies for all the stuff in the house, and then begin working on compatible batteries for devices, including cars, etc.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

10 reasons why Linux will triumph over Windows | 10 Things | TechRepublic.com

10 reasons why Linux will triumph over Windows | 10 Things | TechRepublic.com: "10 reasons why Linux will triumph over Windows"

Go Aruna

Go ArunaSend big files...up to 100 MB, FREE. No registration for the tool on the site.

Mining The Thought Stream

Mining The Thought StreamT W I T T E R

A Computer Repair Utility Kit You Can Run From a Thumb Drive - ReadWriteWeb

A Computer Repair Utility Kit You Can Run From a Thumb Drive - ReadWriteWeb

BBC NEWS | Technology | Fresh start for lost file formats

BBC NEWS | Technology | Fresh start for lost file formats: "Long lost file formats could soon be resurrected by pan-European research. The 4.02m euro (£3.58m) project aims to create a universal emulator that can open and play obsolete file formats."

Friday, February 13, 2009

Prescription Drug Program

Prescription Drug Program: "Prescription Drug Program
Gov. Chris Gregoire encourages all Washingtonians to enroll in free WPDP discount card program
OLYMPIA - Gov. Chris Gregoire today encouraged all Washingtonians to sign up ...
OLYMPIA -- More than 82,000 people have signed up for Washington's 15-month-o...
Governor Gregoire Announces Washingtonians Have Saved Over $1 Million on Prescriptions
(OLYMPIA) - Governor Chris Gregoire today announced that Washington residents...
Governor Gregoire Introduces Free State Prescription Drug Discount Card
The Prescription Drug Program has developed several tools, released discount card programs, and pooled resources with other organizations with the same goal in mind... providing information and programs that serve the residents of Washington and their current needs for prescription drug purchasing assistance."

Free-ebooks.net | Download free Fiction, Marketing,electronic publishing ebooks

Free-ebooks.net | Download free Fiction, Marketing,electronic publishing ebooks: "Here is the best of my work published in ''STAT News'' and elsewhere. Each piece has been reedited and updated to include the latest information available. I hope you enjoy every single article. And that you find great ideas throughout to help you start or improve your website, one that succeeds in producing ever greater profits."
This points to a free e-book for newbies in .pdf format. Other FREE books on this site in many categories. -tp.

Tax time: TurboTax versus TaxCut 2008 - CNET Reviews

Tax time: TurboTax versus TaxCut 2008 - CNET Reviews
The two, top, tax packages compared.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Fastest DVD Copy Software | Best DVD Decrypter from DVDFab

Fastest DVD Copy Software | Best DVD Decrypter from DVDFab: "DVDFab HD Decrypter 5.2.3.2 (January 22, 2009)

DVDFab HD Decrypter is a simple version of DVDFab Platinum. It copies entire DVD movie to hard disk, and removes all the protections (CSS, RC, RCE, APS, UOPs and Sony ARccOS) while copying. It also comes with full HD-DVD and Blu-ray support (Removes AACS)."

New Economy Alerts and Resources

New Economy Alerts and Resources
Depending on your browser sizing, you may be disturbed by Symantec widget on the left side. Good information/links on this site, however. -tp.

New Economy Alerts and Resources

New Economy Alerts and Resources
NewEconomyAlerts.com is a Subject Tracer™ Information Blog created and maintained by Internet expert Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A. utilizing the sources and resources of the Virtual Private Library for monitoring alerts and resources surrounding the New Economy.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Searchme: Visual Search - Beta

Searchme: Visual Search - Beta
Give this search tool a spin. Visual, 'fer sure. -tp

Bellflower

Bellflower
Get out your insulin for this one. Too sweet.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Use Google to Search Within One Site - PC World

Use Google to Search Within One Site - PC World: "Suppose, for instance, that you're trying to find an old post of mine--say, the one about using Gmail to filter spam. One option is to head to PC World, type in a few keywords, then wade through the results in hopes of finding the post.

Or, you could save several steps and type this into your Google search bar:

site:pcworld.com broida gmail

Try it. You'll see that the exact post appears in the first two search results. Now, suppose you recall hearing an NPR story featuring the music of Brendan Benson. Instead of slogging through NPR's own less-than-stellar search engine, just hit Google with this:

site:npr.org brendan benson

For example: search our BLOG from your browser, any time by type this in the search box for Google: site:sequimpcs.blogspot.com gmail
This would search for gmail on our BLOG. Voila! -tp

Disk Investigator Info and Download page

Disk Investigator Info and Download page

FreeNAS: The Free NAS Server - Home

FreeNAS: The Free NAS Server - Home

The Best Free Software of 2009 - App Launchers - Features by PC Magazine

The Best Free Software of 2009 - App Launchers - Features by PC Magazine

Magic Jack Phone Service

Magic Jack Phone Service
Article, evaluation, pros and cons.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Index of /

Index of /
Linux distros................

Downloads: bitRipper is a Dead Simple Solution for DVD Ripping

Downloads: bitRipper is a Dead Simple Solution for DVD Ripping
I haven't tried this, but if you do, let the SPCUG board know by sending us an email.

India's $10 laptop: Too good to be true | The Industry Standard

India's $10 laptop: Too good to be true | The Industry Standard

Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts Improve Productivity

Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts Improve ProductivityShortcuts when using GMAIL.
To turn on Gmail keyboard shortcuts, go to the Settings General tab, switch Keyboard shortcuts to on and save your changes.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Post Processing Black and Whites

Post Processing Black and Whites

Printable Checklist

Printable Checklist

What Is My IP Address? - IP Address Tools

What Is My IP Address? - IP Address Tools
A flock of IP tools. They include:
IP Location, Map, and Details

This tool provides details about an IP address. It's estimated physical location (country, state, and city) and a map.
Lookup IP

Email Source IP Address

This toll helps to determine the source IP address of an email based of the headers of the email. Also displays the estimated location on a map.
Trace Email

IP Traceroute

This tool provides a traceroute from our server to the requested IP address. This can be used to help to attempt to come up with a general location of an IP address.
Traceroute

Visual Traceroute

This tool provides a mapped graphical representation of a traceroute from our server to the requested IP address.
Visual Traceroute

DNSbl Check

This tool will check to see if your IP address is listed with more than 100 DNSbl's as a machine that mail should not be accepted from.
Blacklist Check

Twitter / OReillyMedia

Twitter / OReillyMedia
O'Reilly's Twitter...new books, downloads, etc. O'Reilly publishes exellent books, and SPUCG members get a discount.

FUMSI - Data Visualisation: Tools and Examples

FUMSI - Data Visualisation: Tools and Examples
Fumsi at: http://web.fumsi.com is an interesting site in itself. -tp.

pachube :: connecting environments, patching the planet

pachube :: connecting environments, patching the planet
* Monitor environments, record sensors & share realtime data
* Connect together devices, homes, energy meters & the world
* Embed dynamic realtime graphs in your own website or blog
* Route Pachube feeds to other web services & APIs
* See how people use Pachube & ask questions in the forum
* Save favourites, contact other users & share statistics
* Browse by map view or list view
* Search for feeds or browse by tag
* Track environments in RSS or Atom format

Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds

Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds: "Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends."

Monday, February 2, 2009

ISO Recorder v3

ISO Recorder v3
Fast, easy, one step. After you install ISO Recorder, no program group is created and there is no application to run. ISO Recorder is a Shell extension, which means it provides additional options in a file right-click menu. To create a CD with ISO Recorder right-click on a file with .iso extension and select "Copy Image to CD"

Command Prompt (Cmd.exe) Runs Files That Do Not Have Executable File Name Extensions

Command Prompt (Cmd.exe) Runs Files That Do Not Have Executable File Name Extensions

Another tip:
How to open files and folders with a single click

By default, clicking once on a file or folder in My Computer or Windows Explorer highlights it; you have to double click to open it. But if you're really lazy - er, efficiency-minded - and want to be able to open items with just one click, you can configure XP to do so. Here's how:
Click Start | My Computer
In the My Computer console, click Tools | Folder Options
Under "Click Items as Follows" at the bottom of the General tab, select "Single-click to open an item (point to select)
Click OK

docupen-printstik-worlds smallest printer-scanner

docupen-printstik-worlds smallest printer-scanner Nice, cute, small, but 60 sheets of paper cost 60 bucks. A dollar a page is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much for the convenience. It's better to take a digital photo of the screen(s) and print it later.

India developing $10 laptop, Gartner says $100 laptop "at least three years away." We're confused. - Engadget

India developing $10 laptop, Gartner says $100 laptop "at least three years away." We're confused. - Engadget

Download YouTube Videos

Download YouTube Videos

Blogger Backup - Release: v1.0.9.23 Beta

Blogger Backup - Release: v1.0.9.23 Beta
Since Google is prone to errors........human last time........when they warned that every site was dangerous.......You should back things up that are stored or created with Google products and services. This is for BLOGS. -tp.

Open Directory - Computers: Multimedia: Music and Audio: Software: Plug-ins

Open Directory - Computers: Multimedia: Music and Audio: Software: Plug-ins

AM Trance Gizmo - Trance VST VST Plugin Free

AM Trance Gizmo - Trance VST VST Plugin Free

Sunday, February 1, 2009

YouTube DOWNLOADING FROM, ETC. - IBM 5150 - the first PC - IBM5150 Personal Computer

YouTube - IBM 5150 - the first PC - IBM5150 Personal Computer
Let's say you like this video of the old 5150 PC, and the link on you tube (it's a long one) is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igQpCococwQ
If you want to download it, just do this:
Insert the letters pwn in the URL to video so it now reads:
http://www.pwnyoutube.com/watch?v=igQpCococwQ

Doing this will take you to the site:
http://www.pwnyoutube.com/watch?v=igQpCococwQ

Where you can download the video in standard or HIGH QUALITY video - if a high quality version is available, of course.

If you need a FLV player, it's linked there. If you get the MP4 version of the file, you need QuickTime, but Quicktime is free and an excellent player for mp4 and mov files. -tp.

VDOWNLOADER - Download videos from Youtube, MySpace, Pornotube, DailyMotion, Metacafe, Yuvutu, and similar sites

VDOWNLOADER - Download videos from Youtube, MySpace, Pornotube, DailyMotion, Metacafe, Yuvutu, and similar sites: "VDownloader can search, download and convert videos from Youtube, Google Video, Metacafe, MySpace, DailyMotion, Pornotube, Yuvutu, and many other similar sites, saving them in AVI or MPG format. It is also a powerful video converter."

YouTube - PC personal computer

YouTube - PC personal computer
Videos at You Tube with tags of PC or personal computer. Use the search tool on the YouTube.com site to search for many more related videos.

PC - Free Videos about PC | ExpertVillage Videos

PC - Free Videos about PC | ExpertVillage Videos
Expert village - videos with TAGS of PC. Includingd: How to Convert a Computer Into a File Server, How to Burn Music to a CD, etc.

DL.TV

DL.TV
For Tech fans, by Tech fans.

PC Magazine - Computer, Software, Hardware and Electronics Reviews, Downloads, News and Opinion

PC Magazine - Computer, Software, Hardware and Electronics Reviews, Downloads, News and Opinion
Videos at PC Magazine-

TigerDirect.com - TigerTV Directory

TigerDirect.com - TigerTV Directory
Videos from Tiger Direct...news, hardware, etc.

Howstuffworks "Video Search"

Howstuffworks "Video Search"
Just as good, if not better than other PC-related, how-to videos out there.